London [UK], July 8 : Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic advanced to the next round after a dominant win over Stan Wawrinka, a three-time grand slam title winner in their third-round clash at the ongoing Wimbledon championships in London on Saturday.
The match was a one-sided affair largely and Djokovic won it 6-3, 6-1, 7-6(5), as per ATP. With this, Djokovic also avoided the chance of the match being carried over to Saturday.
"I have to say that it's amazing what Stan is doing. Still his age, after several surgeries. We are two old guys fighting with the young guns, I think it is important to acknowledge that," Djokovic said in his on-court interview as per ATP.
"It is amazing. It's inspiring. Like Andy [Murray], he was forced to drop [in] the rankings in the last couple of years [and is] trying to build his ranking."
"We have had some amazing battles on the biggest courts in the sport. I respect Stan a lot as a player, I really love him as a person. He's an extremely nice guy. So I wish him all the best for the for the rest of the season," said Djokovic.
After he won his second-round clash, Wawrinka was not expecting at all to upset the second seed.
"Hopefully I can make a competitive match, but if you will look at recent results, I don't really stand a chance," he had said.
The predictions made by the former World No. 3 came true. In his opening service game of the match, Wawrinka fought back to hold from 0/40, but the difficulty was a portent of things to come. In order to defeat his opponent and the 11 p.m. curfew, Djokovic was laser-focused.
The 23-time grand slam champion leads Wawrinka 21-6, head-to-head. This was their just third meeting since the final of the 2016 US Open, which the Swiss player won.
In the round of 16, Djokovic will be playing 17th seed Hubert Hurkacz, who defeated 14th seed Lorenzo Musetti 7-6(4), 6-4, 6-4 earlier.
Earlier, trailing overnight, Stefanos Tsitsipas completed a thrilling turnaround victory on Friday at the ongoing Wimbledon 2023 when he stormed past two-time champion Andy Murray 7-6(3), 6-7(2), 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-4.
On Thursday, the Scot led the Greek 6-7(3), 7-6(2), 6-4 before play was called off at 10:38 pm. Because a finish before the 11 pm. curfew appeared highly doubtful, the match was called off.
Tsitsipas, the World No. 5, came out on fire on Friday's resumption. With his blistering forehand, he broke through to the third round of Wimbledon for the third time in a match that lasted for four hours and 41 minutes.
World Number One Carlos Alcaraz put up a dominant show against Frenchman Alexandre Muller 6-4, 7-6(2), 6-3 to reach the third round of the event.
Alcaraz continued his perfect record at this year's Wimbledon on Friday when he moved past Frenchman with a controlled display against World No. 84 Muller.
With his two-hour, 34-minute win, Alcaraz set a third-round clash against Jason Kubler or Nicolas Jarry.
On Court 3 in third-round action, Jannik Sinner of Italy fought hard to defeat Quentin Halys 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4. After dropping the first set, the eighth seed dropped only three points behind his first serve the rest of the way.
Sinner, a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon last year, won 62% of points on his second serve, compared to 46% for the Frenchman.
Holger Rune displayed a gritty performance to rally from a break of serve down in the first and third sets to secure a fine 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-4 victory over Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena to charge into the Wimbledon third round on Friday.
With 45 victories (twice as many as his opponent) and 47 unforced errors, Rune controlled the action in the match. He also slowly improved his serve after only winning three of 12 second-serve points in the first set.
The World No. 3 Daniil Medvedev made quick work of his delayed journey into the third round of Wimbledon on Friday, as he played just five games to complete a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(5) win over Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
Elsewhere, Matteo Berrettini wasted no time in overwhelming 15th seed Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of Wimbledon.
The 2021 finalist dominated on service, winning 88% of points on his first serve and denying all three of the Australian's breakpoints. Berrettini continued to dominate from the baseline, hitting 38 winners to De Minaur's 16.
The World No. 38 will next clash against 19th seed Alexander Zverev in the third round after the German defeated Japanese lucky loser Yosuke Watanuki 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.
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